Epic Games plans to announce this week that it is changing the names of its upcoming first-person shooters, Unreal II to Unreal Episode II and Unreal Tournament 2 to Unreal Tournament 2003, according to GameSpot. More importantly, the games are apparently going to make a significant divergence, with UE2 becoming a single player game only and UT03 picking up the slack in the multiplayer arena. HomeLAN had an informative one-on-one interview with Epic's vice president, Mark Rein. Rein tried to put some nice spin on the news, saying the move to single player only gave programmers a chance to hone the game experience. Sounds to me like Epic is hoping to suck in a little more cash, cha-ching, cha-ching. Unreal Tournament 2003 is set for release this summer, with Unreal Episode II hitting store shelves a few months later.

USER COMMENTS 21 comment(s)

greedy b#stards(11:56am EST Mon Mar 18 2002)It was only a matter of time. EverQuest has shown the way. Many games have offered token solo + multiplayer capabilities for some time, But by creating 2 seperate games Epic is now forcing us to buy the game twice if we want multiplayer. There is no reason why they cannot include both options in one package. - by Nerd Inside

I guess it's not a bad thing…..(2:46pm EST Mon Mar 18 2002)I would rather spend my hard earned money on a quality, focused single or multiplayer game, rather than something that doesn't excel at either. Of course, there are examples of recent games that can do both well (i.e. Castle Wolfenstein), but they are few and far between. And even RtCW isn't a multiplayer Holy Grail the way UT or Q3A was. There aren't any BOTS for example, and the modes of play are fairly limited. - by MSP

It's about time(4:35pm EST Mon Mar 18 2002)Finally, some common sense… Many of us only interested in kicking Human ass over a WAN don't have to wait for development of the Single player portion of the game…Bring it on! - by Darkwing

Who Cares!(5:02pm EST Mon Mar 18 2002)It is UnReal buy both, I can not get enough of it. OOOOOOOOOOOOO two games to buy, better start picking up cans early this year. - by Dr.Sadistic

This is not new-(7:34pm EST Mon Mar 18 2002)Unreal 1 was a single player game, and Unreal Tournament was the multi-player version. Didn't we know all along they were going to do this for the sequels? - by madmaxmedia

good(8:10pm EST Mon Mar 18 2002)Many of us are still forced to use dial-up, and people such as myself get sick real fast of getting our asses kicked by people who don't seem to do anything else in life or by juvenile cheaters(which I would imagine would have to get boring fast “yeah, nobody can beat me ever! What fun.”)So I get kinda sick of hearing how the multiplayer is great for this or that game, oh by the way here's 10 hours of mediocre single player, enjoy.As soon as I get broadband and they make completly cheat proof games, I will become interested in multiplayer, but will always enjoy a good singleplayer experience ala Deus Ex.- by drazoro

bad(9:30pm EST Mon Mar 18 2002)Unreal Tournament was not *the* multiplayer version. It was a refined version of Unreal's original multiplayer mode with the option of playing against bots in a tournament-style ladder.

Unreal's multiplayer was perfect for playing custom weapons and rules (Serpentine) and custom maps on your office LAN. :)- by ^Py^

So what.(9:54pm EST Mon Mar 18 2002)I only play the multiplayer anyways. For practice, I would use the demo (if there is one). - by Blah

Dumb(10:42am EST Tue Mar 19 2002)Where the hell do these companies find their marketting team, these names are Dummmmmmmmmmmmmmmb.

dumb(1:23pm EST Wed Mar 20 2002)i think the idea of bringing out two different versions of game for single and multi-player purposes is a stupid idea trying to get someone rich. Just like Half-life bringing out expansions instead of the actual sequel. Counter strike and opposing force were good, but where's Half-Life 2?! - by ElSchnecko

names(8:15am EST Thu Mar 21 2002)I don't think its a bad idea to name them like this. i hear about so many different “final fantasy” games that i'm not sure which one is final, and this way, when they release future versions they can can just use the year, or the episode, or whatever, and you won't get lost. - by Josh

More money!(12:20pm EST Thu Mar 21 2002)I will not buy either one of these sequels untill they're combined intoone package like the Halflife games have been.Just a ploy to suck more money from the parents of gaming kids. - by MacteN

Good Idea(9:10am EST Fri Mar 22 2002)Even though it's apparently a grab for more $$$, I think it's a good idea. I don't really care for multiplayer games and after Q3 it seemed all the FPS's were going that way. Or in the case of RtCW, the single play really blows, which is very dissapointing after waiting so long and dropping $50 on it. I think more game companies should take this route with their FPS's, as long as we don't start getting these boring, underdeveloped, short, single play versions. Oh well, I'll just sit and wait for Deus EX 2… - by DialupMultiplaySucks

Just be glad they're not making you pay a subscription to play online.(2:11pm EST Fri Mar 22 2002)n/t - by Harry J.

Not that big of deal(5:42pm EST Fri Mar 22 2002)I'm sure about after a month after its release they will be selling it in a bundle pack anyway. Its going to be a great game I would just go out and buy both or wait until they sell the two together. - by The Gnome

Two games…(2:59am EST Fri Feb 07 2003)I won't buy either one and now that I've learned to make GOOD copies and have created a GOOD keygen I will make sure I distribute as many copies as I can over the net to teach companies like this that they CANNOT cheat the public or we will cheat them back. -) - by WorstNightmare

Unreal II Multiplayer(3:28pm EST Wed Feb 19 2003)The idea that creating two quality games is utterly false. Unreal II offers little more than impressive visuals, but a short and not so memorable gameplay. After buying and playing it fully, it sits on my shelf where I will likely never pick it up again. Multiplayer would have been a plus, even if it is mediocre. I is disheartening to see a game with so much potential just throw it all away. - by Virus

virus(2:22pm EST Sun Feb 29 2004)i have only solo cardwhat can i do? - by navazi

Unreal I Multiplayer(9:24pm EST Wed Nov 10 2004)I have got to say. The multiplayer on the original Unreal definitely kicks the asses of UT, UT2003 and UT2004 by FAR. Sure, the UT games may have superior graphics, more available modulations and adaptations and more popularity, Unreal multiplayer in my opinion has definitely mastered what a good multiplayer game is all about, not to mention video games itself, and not to mention our activities, not to mention A WAY OF LIFE.

But if there's anyone I want to flame, it's those god damn propaganda spewers claiming that video games contain no positive effect. Quite the opposite in fact, not to mention throwing out the false lies and propaganda that video games turn people into unsuccessful, unambitioned, unintelligent people who are likely to turn violent. Let's show those bastards. Video games are perhaps one of the best and most productive things people could be doing. They are a unique educational environment. - by Cyber ?

Well Said Cyber!(11:29am EST Sun Apr 03 2005)Well Said Cyber! - by _D&M_